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Jackson Ward Revitalization Assistance Packages provide several different avenues and incentive packages for affordable financing to potential homebuyers who are interested in purchasing renovated properties or performing the renovations themselves.

The following links we have provided are to various organizations through out Richmond area and government offices that are dedicated to help in the preservation and revitalization of historic neighborhoods, including Jackson Ward.

A.C.O.R.N. (Alliance to Conserve Old Richmond Neighborhoods)

The Alliance to Conserve Old Richmond Neighborhoods is using preservation and promotion of Richmond's estimated 7,500 historic vacant houses to improve the lives of residents in Richmond's oldest neighborhoods and to attract new homeowners of all income levels to live in the city. Revitalizing these communities by preserving our shared past will improve the quality of life for both citizens and visitors and ensure the city's future.

The City of Richmond offers several assistance packages to help in the redevelopment of historic neighborhoods, including but not limited to tax abatement and investment incentives. 15-year city real estate tax abatement available for rehabilitation projects

RRHA's Urban Homesteading Program provides home-ownership opportunities for low-and moderate-income families and at the same time helps beautify and revive neighborhoods. The program enables qualified first time home-buyers to purchase and renovate deteriorated houses using RRHA's low-interest loans, the homebuyer agrees to live in their restored home for at least five years.

Market-Rate Homeownership

RRHA works with private developers to offer newly constructed, high-quality, market-rate homes for low- and middle-income families. These homes are located in neighborhoods throughout the city. To make the purchase of the homes affordable, RRHA creates financing packages that may offer grants, assistance with down payments and closing costs.

Home Buyer Education

Home buyer education, training and assistance for home buyers. Financial assistance through second mortgage rehabilitation loans to homeowners who need to make repairs or improvements to their homes.

State Home Fund offers up to 10 percent of sales price as a grant towards down payment

Housing Opportunities Made Equal (HOME)

NIB - Offers up to $5,000.00 for first time home buyers under a rated income ceiling

NIB Plus - Offers up to $10,000.00 for first time home buyers over a rated income ceiling

Commercial Investments and Rehabilitation

The City of Richmond and the State of Virginia offer different commercial investment incentives for people interested in bringing their business into Jackson Ward:

City:

Real Estate Tax Abatement: A ten-year abatement on the real estate tax due on the increased value of a building, after substantial rehabilitation or replacement.

Investment Incentive: An incentive of the lesser of $30,000, or 20 percent of the improvement to real estate and/or the acquisition of improvement of machinery or equipment.

Security Incentive: An incentive of the lesser of $10,000, or 20 percent of the cost of the purchase, construction and installation of approved security improvements and devices.

Façade Incentive: An incentive of the lesser of $10,000, or 20 percent of the cost of approved improvements to the exterior of an industrial or manufacturing structure.

Bank Participation Loan Program: In partnership with local banks, the City will provide lower-interest financing to growing small businesses, for inventory, working capital, equipment and leasehold improvements.

Job Training Assistance: The Office of Economic Development will assist businesses in securing assistance to train new and existing employees. The Office of Economic Development will also offer help in securing zoning, licenses and permits and provide referrals to other agencies that provide business assistance.

State:

A ten-year general credit against State business income, franchise or license tax, 80 percent in year 1 and 60 percent in years 2-10.

A State tax credit of 30 percent of qualified zone real property improvements will be available for rehabilitation projects of at least $50,000 and new construction projects of at least $250,000. Maximum credit cannot exceed $125,000.

Large projects involving more than $100 million in investment and the creation of at least 200 jobs are eligible for a credit of 5 percent of their investment, instead of the real property improvement credit. This credit can be carried forward until the full amount is used.

State grants will be provided for jobs created by business start-ups and expansions, that increase employment over 110 percent of a company's base year. Companies may receive a grant of $1,000 per job filled by an Enterprise Zone resident, or $500 for the hiring of any other employee, per year. The maximum job grant per firm in any year is $100,000 although a business may receive job grants over a three-year period.

myText=Who is WRP?

Walker Row Partnership is an urban renewal development company dedicated to the revitalization, renovation, and beautification of the Richmond historic district of Jackson Ward.

We believe in "The New Urbanism", a concept in which people live, work, shop, and socialize in close proximity to the city. In order to turn this concept into reality, Walker Row Partnership will work with city, civic, and private partners on projects that will help facilitate the return of businesses and residents to the area.

Walker Row Partnership, Inc. can serve as a developer and/or adviser for construction/renovation projects. We have experience qualifying for and selling historic tax credits. We have completed numerous projects ranging in size from single family units to multi-family dwellings and also light commercial.

Who is R. Alexander, Inc

R. Alexander, Inc. is a licensed and insured general contracting firm, which specializes in renovations, restorations, and revitalization projects on properties built between the 1880's and 1930's.

R. Alexander, Inc. has a full staff of artisans including plumbers, HVAC technicians, and carpenters. R. Alexander also has a roofing division, which specializes in slate, metal, and membrane product (rubber, modified bitumen) roofing.

Businesses and individuals have relied on R. Alexander for quality work since 1992. They can handle projects ranging from new construction to renovations of all sizes of buildings.

R. Alexander. Inc. serves as the general contractor on all Walker Row Partnership projects.

myText=Jackson Ward Vision

The vision for the future of Jackson Ward is strong and decisive. With the expansion of the Richmond Convention Center on North 3rd Street and Biotech recently announcing plans to expand its research park, attention has turned to the Ward. Following the concepts of the “New Urbanism”, the development efforts will seek to add infrastructure that will provide places for people to live, work, shop, and socialize in a thriving downtown urban environment.

To accomplish this goal, a plan of development was created which includes programming 2nd Street as an entertainment district. The district will include retail shops, the restored Hippodrome Theater, and an upscale hotel as well as numerous eateries. Community retail will be incorporated into the mix of 1st Street and along Marshall Street. Historic restorations will be encouraged in the residential areas and additional housing will be created by the construction of 80, high-end town homes to be located on the North end of Jackson Ward. Through out the Ward, there will be streetscape improvements and a revamping of Abner Clay Park to be more user friendly. With so much excitement going on within the community, Jackson Ward will take its place as one of the premier downtown neighborhoods.

Jackson Ward History

The history of Jackson Ward is one that is not only interesting, but culturally significant, both in the development of a thriving economy and in the growth of a community. Long before the Ward was officially named in 1871, the area was home to many of Richmond’s German, Italian, and Jewish residents who built their homes in European styles. Soon after the Civil War, many African Americans, including ex-slaves, soldiers, and men who had gained their freedom before the war moved into the area.

By the 1900s a large number of African Americans who had settled into the area considered the Ward as “a city within a city,” thriving on an economy interwoven by their own restaurants, barber shops, insurance companies, benevolent organizations, banks, and thriving medical practices. Jackson Ward’s famed Second Street (referred to as the Deuce) hosted many entertainment activities and venues. Performers such as Ella Fitzgerald, Bill Robinson, and Duke Ellington played here at the Hippodrome, winning the Ward the title the “Harlem of the South.”

The unity of Jackson Ward was threatened in the 1950s with a federally sponsored proposal to build low-income housing and the new interstate, which displaced hundreds of homeowners. Although the plan was altered, Jackson Ward became the victim of urban renewal efforts aimed at improving the downtown Richmond business district.

Ironically, with the civil-rights movement came the demise of the economic unity of the Ward. De-segregation in the early 1960s gradually opened up all of Richmond to blacks forcing the small businesses of Jackson Ward to compete with the entire city. Urban redevelopment and other construction have since reduced the Ward’s size. The approximately forty blocks remaining make Jackson Ward the nation’s largest National Historic Landmark district associated with African American history.